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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27701039">a horse, loose</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/braigwen_s/pseuds/braigwen_s'>braigwen_s</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Discworld - Terry Pratchett</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Helping The Watch With Their Inquiries, Missing Scene, The Inherent Tension Between Loyalty And Suffering-Not-Injustice, implied/referenced suicidal ideation, the truth</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 03:55:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>428</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27701039</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/braigwen_s/pseuds/braigwen_s</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rufus had secretly been terrified that what he'd seen had been the truth - until Commander Vimes had told him how His Lordship was supposed to have been trying to flee.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Rufus Drumknott &amp; Havelock Vetinari, Rufus Drumknott &amp; Samuel Vimes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>a horse, loose</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Sorry about the title.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Rufus had been worried, a horrible, twisting, primal fear, until Commander Vimes had told him that. In the stables, with a huge sack of coinage? Suddenly, he was relieved – it was just another plot against His Lordship. Plots, he could deal with, he could handle. “Whoever set up that part didn’t know His Lordship very well.” (Even if the Patricianship was taken away from him, he was still Lord Vetinari. The Vetinaris were a noble family, and the leader of said family was entitled to a Lordship. There might be only one person left of the family, left he was. Rufus wouldn’t let it be otherwise. Although, right now he was feeling just a little helpless.)</p><p>Commander Vimes snorted in agreement of what he’d said.</p><p>Rufus continued, it suddenly spilling from him, and in the back of his throbbing mind he made a note to ask if Igor had done anything that might inhibit his filter as a side effect. “Losing control of himself was his worst fear.” Was, was, why had he used the past tense? As a separate statement, entirely independent of what he had just admitted – darn that it was just to Vimes, he had still told somebody, and he wasn’t even going to begin to think through why that might have made his injuries feel just a little justified – he said: “If it happened, he would never try to ride away.”</p><p>Vimes – he really was in a lot of pain, his mind hadn’t affixed ‘Commander’ before the man’s surname – tilted his head at him. “What <em>would</em> he have done?”</p><p>If he had tried to flee at all, which Rufus found unlikely – instead, fairly even odds on ruling as a true terroriser like all the other Patricians had been, or grasping at some semblance of control and seeking out Captain Carrot or Commander Vimes for a prompt execution – he would never have ridden a horse to begin with. He would have travelled by coach, and when the coach had been run down he would have cut one of the horses loose and then ridden. He would have tried to make his way to Bonk, but he would never make it. Rufus looked up at Vimes, his eyes stinging and his voice suddenly tight and accusatory. “Why would I tell you? So you can be there with an axe?”</p><p>Vimes froze, for a moment, and Rufus could see all the thoughts and emotions fighting in him. Then he sighed, and shook his head. “Sorry I asked,” he said, with just a bit of grumble to it.</p>
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